Saturday, May 2, 2015

Savoca - the village of The Godfather

Savoca was chosen as a stand-in for the real village of Corleone in the 1972 Godfather movie because it was relatively untouched by progress and had fewer issues than Corleone with the local mafia.

When Francis Ford Coppola filmed at Savoca, all the scenes were shot looking away from the stunning view for authenticity. In contrast, a modern sculpture of Coppola, crouched over his cine camera, looks to the sea.

Bar Vitelli: It is at this spot that a besotted Michael Corleone, played by Al Pacino, asked the wrong man about a beautiful young girl he had seen, Apollonia Vitelli.

There is one winding, narrow road up from the coastal highway to Savoca, which is now augmented with some modern villas, and then a gentle upward stroll past tiny houses and old ruins to the church on the hilltop, begun in the 14th century and known as Santa Lucia, where Michael married Apollonia.